Queen and Duke of Edinburgh spend their Blue Sapphire wedding anniversary
granting audiences to the great and the good at Buckingham Palace.

It may be a landmark that few married couples ever reach, but the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh refused to let their 65th wedding anniversary get in the way of work as they carried out a series of routine engagements today.

The Queen spent her Blue Sapphire anniversary receiving military officers and a high commissioner, while the Duke met the outgoing chairman of a technology company.

The Queen began the day, as she does every day, answering correspondence and looking through government papers sent to her in the famous "red boxes".

She then received Lt Col Jeffrey Cleverly, who has relinquished his command of 3rd Btn, The Royal Welsh, and his successor, Lt Col Robert Manuel, before meeting the new High Commissioner for Belize, Perla Perdomo.

Buckingham Palace released a photograph of the Queen meeting Ms Perdomo, the only image of her on her landmark day.

Her Majesty's final official duty of the day was to receive the insignia of the Order of Merit from the family of the late Professor Sir Andrew Huxley, the Nobel Prize-winning biophysicist. The Queen always takes back the insignia when members of the Order die.

Meanwhile the Duke of Edinburgh granted an audience to Sir Alan Rudge, who has given up his chairmanship of the ERA Foundation, which helps technology companies turn ideas into commercial enterprises.

The Royal family is expected to arrange a private get-together to celebrate the Queen and the Duke's anniversary, but the Earl and Countess of Wessex are in Malta carrying out Diamond Jubilee duties on behalf of the Queen, meaning any celebrations will have to put on hold for the time being.

A spokesman for the Queen said the couple would be “marking the day privately”.